The Moon

A writer in The Spectator thinka it a mistake to cnll the moon a mere satellite of the earth when f lie is in reality a oompanion planet, following a patb round the snn which so nearly resembles that pnrsued 1 the earth, in shape as well as in extent, that if ' the two paths were triioed down on a qnarto sheet it wonld not be easy to distinguían one from the other. O.ir earth, remarks thi3 writer, is simply the largest, whila the moon is t-lio siaallest, of that inner fainily of worlds over which the eun bears 8])ecinl sway ; nor does Mercury exceed the moon to so great a degree in maRs and in volume as the earth or yenusexceeds Mercnry; yet the moon, witjj her surface of 11, 000,000 square miles, seems to bp. beyond a doubt, a mere desert waste, without air or water, exposéd to the alteruations of heat and quid wliioh no living creatnre k'nowii to man cöuld endure; and, notwithstanding hfr positiou as an importunt membM of the s lar sytitem, as well as the nudonbted fnct that iu her motiortei slie obeys the snn in prefereno ■ to the earth, slie has uevertlielesH been so fur coirced l)y the e.irth's iuQueucfl as to be compelled to tnru ahvays the sume fuce towad lior iaicr ciiivinion orl.